Here is yet another setback for the forces of Islamic moderation and reform, the forces that so many Western non-Muslims are so confident will prevail and become the dominant view among Muslims. I wish them all success, but am also realistic about their prospects and wary of “moderates” who line their pockets telling uninformed non-Muslims what they want to hear while making no difference in the Muslim community.
“German Islamic teacher’s license revoked for being too liberal,” by Leah Carter, DW, June 26, 2021:
A German Islamic scholar has had his teaching license rejected because of his “liberal theological convictions,” one of his peers told a newspaper on Saturday.
Islam expert Susanne Schröter spoke out in support of Abdel-Hakim Ourghi, who headed the Islamic Theology department at the University of Freiburg for nearly a decade.
Last month, the 53-year-old Ourghi had his “ijaza” (license to train Islamic teachers) denied by the Stiftung Sunnitischer Schulrat (Sunni School Board Foundation), based in Stuttgart.
The foundation was set up in 2019 with the responsibility for the teaching of Islam in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg.
The decision sparked accusations that the application process was being used to intimidate theology professors with liberal beliefs.
“Mr. Ourghi has a doctorate in Islamic theology and has been teaching Islamic religious education for years,” Schröter told the tabloid Bild. “The assumption that he is technically unsuitable therefore has no basis whatsoever.”
It is therefore clear that “the lecturer was removed from the university because of his liberal theological convictions,” she added.
Ourghi touts a liberal form of Islam, which conflicts with the views of many conservative practitioners.
For example, he has published a book of theses for peaceful and gender-equitable religious practice, and warned future religion teachers in his seminars against political Islam and what he called the “outdated views of conservative scholars.”
His books include You Don’t Have to Wear a Headscarf and Reform Islam: 40 Theses.
“Because I stand up for a secular and liberal Islam, they want to get rid of me,” Ourghi told Die Welt newspaper on Friday.
The foundation didn’t list a specific reason for Ourghi’s rejection, but said his academic achievements were “not recognized in the sense of the ijaza order.”
According to the foundation regulations, university professors who train Islamic religion teachers require a teaching degree in Islamic theology or religious education or an equivalent degree.
However, Ourghi has a doctorate in Islamic theology, as degree programs in Islamic religious education in Germany have not been around for very long….
“The ijaza serves as an instrument of power for the foundation,” Ourghi told Die Welt. “It’s about a warning to my colleagues: Either you represent what we want and give up, or you are no longer allowed to teach.”…
Ade Fegan says
“Reform” is haram
gravenimage says
Grimly true, Ade. Doesn’t Abdel-Hakim Ourghi know that the blood horrors of Islam are already deemed perfect?
mortimer says
Reform is not just ‘haram’, but a cause for severe punishment or death. Abdel-Hakim Ourghi wants to replace divine Sharia with ,modern, human customs. He is an ‘innovator’ and guilty of ‘kufr’.
Bida (innovation) is a crime in Islam punishable by death. The teaching about ‘bida’ actually makes Islam unreformable. No one has the right to change Allah’s words or their canonical interpretations.
Some of the types of bida are the following and are also called ‘kufr’ (thought crimes):
Kufrul-Istihaal: Disbelief out of trying to make haram into halal by convoluted reasoning.
Kufrul-I’raadh: Disbelief due to avoidance. This applies to those who turn away and avoid the teaching of Islam, such as jihad, hatred of kafirs, etc.
Kufrul-Istibdaal: Disbelief because of trying to substitute human laws for Allaah’s Laws. Muslims who refuse jihad or the death penalty for apostates in favour of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are considered apostates who should be executed.
Chrissie01 says
Dr. Ourghi is a known voice of – if there is such a thing – moderate Islam Wow, in Germany, now we let some ooggah ooggah club determine who is allowed to teach at our universities. I thought, until this day, that the academic leadership of the relevant university did that, according to THEIR defined standards and criteria. Going from bad to worse, here…
gravenimage says
Chrissie, things are not that bad yet.
Dr. Ourghi is barred by the Sunni School Board Foundation from training Islamic teachers, *not* from teaching in German universities.
Chrissie01 says
thanks, Gravenimage, that was a misunderstanding.
Actually, in Germany they thought if they placed the teaching of Imams into the hand of the state, they might get somewhat of an oversight of what is being taught. Man, man, man…
Now a clear-thinking head is withdrawn from that activity for being too moderate…
Any reaction, any shock in Germany? Certainly not…
gravenimage says
Thank you , Chrissie.
Does no one wonder what the rest of these Imams are like?
Michael Copeland says
This is why the rather appealing Nigel Farage approach will not work.
What “we absolutely must do”, insists Mr. Farage, is to “get the vast majority of muslims on our side against the bad guys.”
No deal, Mr. Farage. Learning curve needed. The “vast majority of muslims” are not available: Islam has walled them off. If a liberal Islamic teacher emerges he will be prevented from teaching.
PRCS says
“he will be prevented from teaching”
One way or the other:
Salman Rushdie,Theo van Gogh, Samuel Paty, and the apparently still-unnamed Batley school teacher for example.
Ade Fegan says
“Moderate muslims” ? .. I call bullshit on the idea
Their self identifying as muslims is like me self identifying as a lampshade
You ain’t no muslim unless you believe in jihad
.. openly .. or secretly
gravenimage says
True, Micheal.
gravenimage says
Germany: Islamic scholar who favors freedom from hijab and Islamic reform has license revoked for being too liberal
……………………….
That pretty much says it all…
And what is the Sunni School Board Foundation up to? What kind of Islamic teachers are they turning out?
mortimer says
The Saudi Crown Prince has condemned many hadiths which are absurd. I believe that he too will eventually be accused of going too far towards ‘bida’ and ‘kufr’.
This could destabilize his country and the monarchy.
James Lincoln says
Just wondering what Dr. Zuhdi Jasser thinks about this…
gravenimage says
Haven’t heard much from him lately. James.
But last I’d heard, he hasn’t even been able to find a new Mosque that will accept him. I don’t mean a Mosque that will allow him to preach–just one that will allow him to worship there, This is how much orthodox Muslims hate reformers.
James Lincoln says
Thanks for the added info, gravenimage.
OLD GUY says
No such thing as moderate islam.
Patriotliz says
Another Muslim reformer bites the dust. I think using terms such as liberal, conservative or moderate to describe a Muslim’s degree of practice and belief of Islamic ideology is too “Westernized.” First of all, CONSERVATIVE, in the Western sense of the word is not an appropriate label for the EXTREMIST, VIOLENT FUNDAMENTALIST Muslim “true believer” jihadist which doesn’t tolerate any deviation from the literal translations of the Quran, Sharia, etc. and takes it upon themselves to enforce the strict interpretation of Sharia. Any “Liberal” or Moderate interpretations of Islam is automatic apostasy. So there can never be a “Liberal” Islamic scholar and there can never be REFORM of Islam to make it compatible with Judeo-Christian Western Civilization. Some can try, like Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, but he’s just whistling in the wind. He likes to refer to an Islamic fundamentalist as an “Islamist” and their brand of Islam as “Islamism.” I don’t know how those suffixes explains the difference between the 2 Islam’s other than I think he separates spiritual Islam from the activist Islamic political mandates. A “reformed” Islam ceases to be Islam as invented by Muhammad or whoever.